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A protester guards the barricades in front of riot police in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. Ukraine's justice minister is threatening to call for a state of emergency unless protesters leave her ministry building, which they occupied during the night. The seizure of the building early Monday underlined how anti-government demonstrators are increasingly willing to take dramatic action as they push for the president's resignation and other concessions. Protesters now occupy four sizable buildings in downtown Kiev, including the city hall.

This is a Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013 file photo of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as she listens during the service of remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London.

President Barack Obama was expected to challenge Congress to restore the nation’s belief in “opportunity for all” in his State of the Union speech Tuesday, saying he would act on his own “wherever and whenever” he can. “America does not stand still and neither will I,” Obama was expected to say, according to remarks released in advance. Obama was expected to focus on income inequality, and to seek an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The White House says Obama will use an executive order to require federal contractors to pay the higher minimum. He was expected to stress women’s issues, demanding equal pay for equal work and better treatment for working mothers. The State of the Union, delivered before a joint session of Congress and watched by millions of Americans, is the opening salvo in a midterm election fight that is expected to be bitter, with political differences making it difficult to accomplish anything.

In response to weeks of furious protests, Ukraine’s prime minister resigned Tuesday and Parliament repealed anti-protest laws that had set off violent clashes. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was one of the officials most disliked by the opposition, but he was replaced by deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, another staunch loyalist of the despised President Viktor Yanukovych. The laws repealed Tuesday increased prison sentences for creating disorder, and prohibited demonstrators from wearing helmets and gas masks — which some protesters ridiculed by wearing pots and pans as helmets. Opposition leader and lawmaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk hailed Parliament’s move. “We have repealed all the laws against which the whole country rose up,” he said. Yanukovych offered the premiership to Yatsenyuk over the weekend, but he refused the post.

Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi appeared in court Tuesday wearing a white prison uniform inside a soundproof glass cage, and he shouted at the judge: “Who are you? Tell me!” Judge Shabaan el-Shami responded: “I am the head of Egypt’s criminal court!” The court session, which was adjourned until Feb. 22, was carefully managed by the authorities, with state television showing only edited excerpts. The 62-year-old Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader ever, was overthrown in a military coup and is on trial in connection with prison breaks that freed 20,000 inmates during the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak. Tuesday was the three-year anniversary of the start of the Arab Spring protests that overthrew Mubarak. Morsi supporters clashed with police in central Cairo, and gunmen killed an aide to the interior minister in a drive-by shooting and a police officer guarding a church.

Poor royals. Members of Britain’s Parliament on Tuesday criticized the royal household for its stewardship of its finances and of Buckingham Palace, saying its rainy-day reserve fund was down to a lowly $1.7 million. And no wonder — the royals spent $75.5 million in 2012-13, going over their budget by $3.8 million. And for all that, the boiler in the palace hasn’t been overhauled in 60 years and buckets are used to catch water leaking from the roof inside a gallery where priceless art is stored. Parliament’s spending watchdog committee said the queen’s advisers should show a little more business savvy, like by opening the palace to paying tours year-round instead of only in the summer. “I don’t think they’ve been rigorous enough or commercial enough in their approach to ensure that we really eke out best value for every pound of taxpayers’ money that is spent supporting the royal household and serving the queen,” the committee’s chairwoman, Margaret Hodge of the Labor Party, told Sky News.

The Wire, a summary of top national and world news stories from the Associated Press and other wire services, moves weekdays. Contact Karl Kahler at 408-920-5023; follow him at twitter.com/karl_kahler.

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.